National leaders must look at transportation

By Craig McManus | Friday, August 10, 2007

I applaud John Gardner’s encouragement of passenger train service between the Quad-Cities and Chicago (“Passenger rail would be asset to Quad-Cities,” Aug. 7). But why not take his idea and expand it. Our leaders need to take a national look at our transportation system and where it is heading.

What with our bridges in need of repair, our airports more confusion than mass, and our interstate highways so overloaded with trucks many of us would prefer a root canal rather than drive to Des Moines or Chicago. 

Maybe it is time for a commission to take an overview of what we are doing, make recommendations, and act on what is suggested. President Eisenhower was the last leader who showed imagination, with the building of Interstate 80 and subsequent roads. Would it be asking for the impossible for our leaders to really face what is happening in the year 2007?

Craig McManus

Davenport